Head-to-head records loom as potential tiebreaker
Drew Rasmussen’s perfect game bid was more than just a sublime individual performance.
The right-hander’s stellar showing lifted Tampa Bay to what might have been its most important win of the season.
The Rays beat Baltimore 4-1 on Sunday, moving to 1 ½ games ahead of the Orioles for the final wild card in the American League. Tampa Bay also took the season series with Baltimore 10-9.
That’s important because ties for postseason spots will no longer be broken by one-game playoffs. Instead, head-to-head record during the season is the top tiebreaker.
Here’s a look at what kind of shape the postseason contenders are in when it comes to that tiebreaker. (The Yankees, Astros and Dodgers are excluded because of their huge leads in their divisions.)
The following American League season series between playoff contenders are either complete, or the winner is certain: — Blue Jays over Red Sox — Blue Jays over White Sox
— Guardians over Blue Jays
— Mariners over Blue Jays
— Mariners over Orioles — Rays over Orioles — Rays over Mariners — Red Sox over Guardians
— Red Sox over Mariners
— Twins over Blue Jays — Twins over Mariners — Twins over Orioles — Twins over Rays — White Sox over Rays — White Sox over Red Sox
The following AL season series winners are still uncertain:
— Guardians and Mariners tied 0-0
— Guardians lead Orioles 2-1
— Guardians lead Rays 2-1
— Guardians lead Twins 6-5
— Guardians lead White Sox 8-5
— Orioles lead Blue Jays 4-2
— Orioles lead Red Sox 5-4
— Orioles lead White
Oakland
Monday’s games
Detroit at Cleveland, 1st game Detroit at Cleveland, 2nd game Tampa Bay at N.Y. Yankees Baltimore at Toronto
Kansas City at Minnesota Oakland at Texas
Houston at Chicago White Sox Seattle at L.A. Angels
Tuesday’s games
Boston (Pivetta 8-9) at Pittsburgh (Keller 4-8), 7:05 p.m.
Tampa Bay (Springs 4-3) at N.Y. Yankees (Cortes 9-3), 7:05 p.m. Baltimore (Kremer 4-4) at Toronto (Manoah 12-5), 7:07 p.m.
Detroit (Hill 2-3) at Cleveland (Plesac 2-10), 7:10 p.m.
Kansas City (Greinke 4-7) at Minnesota (Gray 6-3), 7:40 p.m.
Oakland (Sears 3-0) at Texas (TBD), 8:05 p.m.
Houston (Verlander 15-3) at Chicago White Sox (Cease 12-5), 8:10 p.m. Seattle (Ray 8-8) at L.A. Angels (Suarez 4-4), 9:38 p.m. 41 74 .357 331⁄2
Sox 3-1
— Rays lead Blue Jays 6-4
— Rays lead Red Sox 8-2 — Red Sox and Twins tied 2-2
— Twins lead White Sox 6-4
— White Sox lead Mariners 2-1
The following National League season series are either complete, or the winner is certain:
— Braves and Brewers tied
— Cardinals over Giants
EAST DIVISION
New York Atlanta Philadelphia Miami Washington CENTRAL DIVISION
St. Louis Milwaukee Chicago Cincinnati Pittsburgh WEST DIVISION
W
75 70 63 50 38
W
63 51 61 52 47 66 45 68 45 70
W
L
40 46 51 65 78
L
L
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco Arizona
Colorado
Monday’s games Philadelphia at Cincinnati San Diego at Miami Chicago Cubs at Washington
79 65 57 53 51
34 52 57 61 66
Pct
.652 .603 .553 .435 .328
Pct
.553 — .540 1 1⁄2 .416 15 1⁄2 .398 17 1⁄2 .391 18 1⁄2
Pct
.699 .556 .500 .465 .436
GB
— 5 1⁄2 11 1⁄2 25 37 1⁄2
GB
GB
— 16 22 1⁄2 26 1⁄2 30 —Giants over Brewers — Mets over Cardinals — Mets over Giants — Mets over Phillies — Padres over Braves — Padres over Brewers — Padres over Mets — Phillies over Brewers — Phillies over Cardinals
— Phillies over Padres The following NL season series winners are still uncertain:
— Braves lead Cardinals 3-1
— Braves lead Giants 3-1
N.Y. Mets at Atlanta
L.A. Dodgers at Milwaukee Arizona at San Francisco
Tuesday’s games
Philadelphia (Gibson 7-5) at Cincinnati (Zeuch 0-1), 6:40 p.m.
San Diego (Manaea 6-6) at Miami (Cabrera 3-1), 6:40 p.m.
Boston (Pivetta 8-9) at Pittsburgh (Keller 4-8), 7:05 p.m.
Chicago Cubs (Steele 4-7) at Washington (Corbin 4-16), 7:05 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (Walker 10-3) at Atlanta (Morton 5-5), 7:20 p.m.
Colorado (Freeland 7-8) at St. Louis (Quintana 4-5), 7:45 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Pepiot 1-0) at Milwaukee (Woodruff 9-3), 8:10 p.m.
Arizona (Kelly 10-5) at San Francisco (Junis 4-3), 9:45 p.m.
— Braves and Phillies tied 6-6
— Cardinals lead Brewers 8-7
— Cardinals lead Padres 3-0
— Giants lead Phillies 2-1
— Mets lead Braves 8-4 — Mets lead Brewers 2-1 — Padres lead Giants 8-5
SWAN SONG
Albert Pujols isn’t going quietly into retirement. He homered twice Sunday to help St. Louis beat Milwaukee and extend its lead over the Brewers in the NL Central to 1 ½ games.
Pujols is up to 689 homers. He has said this will be his final season, and he has got a shot to catch Alex Rodriguez (696) for fourth on the career list.
TRIVIA TIME
Name the only Tampa Bay pitcher to throw a nohitter.
LINE OF THE WEEK
Rasmussen allowed a leadoff double in the ninth inning by Jorge Mateo after retiring the first 24 hitters he faced. He ended up allowing just that one hit
York, .305; Devers, Boston, .303; Judge, New York, .303; Robert, Chicago, .301; Vaughn, Chicago, .301; J.Abreu, Chicago, .300.
Runs
Judge, New York, 96; Alvarez, Houston, 74; LeMahieu, New York, 71; Bregman, Houston, 65; Rosario, Cleveland, 65; Altuve, Houston, 64; Devers, Boston, 64; Guerrero Jr., Toronto, 64; Ohtani, Los Angeles, 64; Rizzo, New York, 64; Semien, Texas, 64.
RBI
Judge, New York, 100; J.Ramirez, Cleveland, 93; Tucker, Houston, 76; Alvarez, Houston, 74; A.Garcia, Texas, 73; Guerrero Jr., Toronto, 69; Ohtani, Los Angeles, 68; Rizzo, New York, 67; Bregman, Houston, 64; Bichette, Toronto, 64. Hits
J.Abreu, Chicago, 130; Rosario, Cleveland, 128; Arraez, Minnesota, 127; Bogaerts, Boston, 125; Judge, New York, 125; Guerrero Jr., Toronto, 123; Benintendi, New York, 120; Bichette, Toronto, 119; Devers, Boston, 119; J.Ramirez, Cleveland, 119.
Doubles
J.Ramirez, Cleveland, 36; J.Martinez, Boston, 34; Gurriel, Houston, 32; Bogaerts, Boston, 31; Devers, Boston, 31; Verdugo, Boston, 29; J.Abreu, Chicago, in 8 1/3 innings, striking out seven.
COMEBACK OF THE WEEK
The Los Angeles Angels scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to tie it, then beat Minnesota 5-3 on a two-run homer by Taylor Ward in the 11th inning Saturday night.
The Angels had just a 3.9% chance of winning in the bottom of the eighth, according to Baseball Savant. At that point, they had two out and nobody on and trailed 3-0. Then Shohei Ohtani started the comeback with a solo homer.
Magneuris Sierra tied it in the ninth on a wild play with two on and two out. Left fielder Nick Gordon’s diving attempt on Sierra’s flyball came up empty, and both runners scored. Sierra was thrown out trying for a game-winning insidethe-park homer, but Los Angeles eventually prevailed anyway.
TRIVIA ANSWER
Matt Garza no-hit the Detroit Tigers on July 26, 2010. 28; Bichette, Toronto, 27; Bregman, Houston, 27; Gurriel Jr., Toronto, 27. Triples
Rosario, Cleveland, 6; Mateo, Baltimore, 5; Witt Jr., Kansas City, 5; A.Garcia, Texas, 4; Isbel, Kansas City, 4; Kwan, Cleveland, 4; J.Ramirez, Cleveland, 4; 9 tied at 3.
Home runs
Judge, New York, 46; Alvarez, Houston, 31; Buxton, Minnesota, 28; Rizzo, New York, 27; Ohtani, Los Angeles, 26; Seager, Texas, 26; Trout, Los Angeles, 24; Stanton, New York, 24; Devers, Boston, 24; M.Chapman, Toronto, 23; Guerrero Jr., Toronto, 23.
Stolen bases
Mateo, Baltimore, 27; Mullins, Baltimore, 24; Witt Jr., Kansas City, 22; Arozarena, Tampa Bay, 21; J.Rodriguez, Seattle, 21; Semien, Texas, 19; A.Garcia, Texas, 17; Tucker, Houston, 17; Merrifield, Toronto, 16; Gimenez, Cleveland, 15; Kiner-Falefa, New York, 15.
Pitching
Verlander, Houston, 15-3; Manoah, Toronto, 12-5; Cease, Chicago, 12-5; Taillon, New York, 11-2; F.Valdez, Houston, 11-4; Urquidy, Houston, 11-4; McClanahan, Tampa Bay, 11-5; Gilbert, Seattle, 10-5; Ohtani, Los Angeles, 10-7; M.Perez, Texas, 9-3; Cortes, New York, 9-3.